1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a device that is used with a conventional television set, that permits both hearing impaired and non hearing impaired individuals to view television audio voice signals in a text format on the television screen without the requirement of a Close/Open Caption broadcast signal or a Close/Open Caption enabled television
2. Description of Related Art
People who are hearing impaired or who have no hearing at all are severely limited in their watching and understanding of television presentations that include human speech. Some television networks or specific TV programs provide, at great expense, closed-captioned text for hearing impaired people that provide speech translations on the television screen in real time of the television presentation. Unfortunately, this is not universally available. Therefore, the limited availability of closed-captioning and its cost severely limit the enjoyment of television for someone that is hearing impaired. To generate closed caption speech display of a television program requires the network to employ one or more typists who listen to the human speech live and type the words for transmission and display on screen. This method is extremely expensive.
The hearing impaired are also limited in their participation in other venues, particularly entertainment, such as motion picture theatres. Typically there is no closed-caption available. There are also numerous other environments, such as public speaking events, teaching in classroom settings, live plays, and social meetings, where someone who is hearing impaired or has no hearing at all cannot participate.
The use of sign language for hearing impaired persons has been employed on a specific basis, show-by-show, but in many environments is not totally practical.
Correspondingly, participants who must converse in difference languages provide a somewhat comparable environment as that experienced by the hearing impaired. A person unable to speak or converse in a particular language is not able to comprehend, and cannot enjoy television in a different language or participate in other events that require the ability to hear and translate the different language that is being spoken.
The purpose of the present invention is to provide a small, portable device that can alleviate the problems discussed above for the hearing impaired. Particularly in one embodiment, the invention can be utilized in conjunction with a conventional television set. The invention acts to convert the audio portion of the input television signal in a household that is received either from cable or through an antenna, to provide a human speech text stream printout on the screen in real time. In other alternate embodiments, the present invention can extend to all forms of media, including radio that provides human speech, by including a visual display unit that converts all human speech into a visually displayed text format on a television screen or on a separate portable LCD display. Such a device can be hand-held, battery-operated, and used in almost every situation for processing audio speech and converting it to a visual text display.
A television and radio speech-to-text translating processor that allows a person who hearing impaired or deaf to watch a conventional television program in a domestic setting, such as the user""s home, that is connected directly to the user""s television signal input, which can either be an antenna, cable television input, or satellite input.
The television speech-to-text processor includes a box-like housing that can be mounted on or near a conventional television set and a separate remote control unit that is hand-held and resembles a conventional television set remote control.
The processor unit mounted in the housing may include a plurality of inputs and input connectors that includes a television cable/television antenna signal input, a line input (audio), a high Z input (audio), and an RF (FM) input (audio). Each of the inputs described herein may be in the form of input jacks mounted on a panel that forms part of the housing.
The main processor would also include a plurality of signal output jacks or connectors that includes a television signal, either channel 3 or channel 4 output, the RF (FM) output (text), a serial output (text), and an infrared (IR) output (text). Again, the outputs described herein may include jacks or connectors that are formed on a single panel that is part of the housing of the main processor.
Conventional television sets may or may not include additional circuitry for providing on-screen closed captioned displays that are generated by a specific network on a particular television channel. Thus, one of the considerations is that the present invention can produce a display of text representing human speech embodied in the audio television signal for either type of television set, whether it includes closed caption capabilities or whether it doesn""t. The present invention includes a manual and remote control activated selector switch that allows the user to select either closed caption or automatic so that the system and main processor embodied in the present invention can determine whether to employ the present invention text generator or utilize closed caption when it is being transmitted from a specific station.
The main processor unit mounted in the housing includes circuitry for initially providing audio input selector. Each of the signal inputs to the device, including the line input, the high Z input and the RF (FM) input, are directly connected to the audio input selector.
The main television signal input from the TV cable or television signal antenna input is connected directly to a TV channel tuner having an output connected to an audio/video decoder. The decoder has three separate outputs. The first output is a complete TV audio signal that is transmitted to an audio/video text encoder. The second output is a video signal which represents the entire TV video signal which may or may not include closed-caption video. This output signal goes to a closed-caption decoder for the video. The third output is an audio output that represents the TV audio signal that goes to the audio input selector. The housing may include a manually activated selector that selects the desired output from the main processor unit by virtue of selecting the particular input to be processed by the system. In the preferred embodiment, it will be the television signal.
The main processor unit includes a closed caption video decoder having an input that receives the TV video from the audio/video decoder for decoding closed caption data (if present on line 21) received from the incoming television signal. The output of the closed caption decoder goes to the input of a closed caption/local text display encode selector. The main processor housing includes a manual switch that allows the end user to select either automatic selection which selects either closed caption data or the local text display of the present invention if closed caption is present or a switch that excludes closed caption completely and permits only text display in accordance with the present invention. The remote control switch also could include encode selection similar to that, between closed caption and the text display of the present invention.
The main processor unit includes an automatic gain control, the input of which is connected to the audio input selector output. This component will control the gain of the signal, regardless of its input and will control, for example, the audio signal received from the audio/video decoder that represents the audio signal of the television input signal separated from the video portion.
The audio signal is then sent to one or more audio filters from the automatic gain control to filter out all non-human speech sounds and audio that is outside the range of human speech. This will help alleviate musical sounds, noise, other undesired sounds, or sounds that are not capable of representing human speech.
After the audio signals have been filtered to be restricted to ranges of human speech, the signal is passed to a speech-to-text converter. This is where the primary language hat is going to be converted into text, such as English, Spanish or French, is selected through a manual switch on the housing and also with a remote control switch. The input language selector has a manual or remote switch input that selects the incoming language.
Once the input language selector has been activated for a specific language such as English, the filtered audio signal is sent to a speech-to-text converter where the human speech in audio form is then converted into a text alpha numeric signal that is capable of displaying a text format on a display screen, such as a CRT or LCD, based on the alphabet and text of human language. In the preferred embodiment this is done with an IBM Via Voice voice recognition speech engine.
Once the audio human speech data input has been converted to another signal that represents ASCII, and signal data for displaying text, the data signal is sent to a language translator. The purpose of this component is to literally select what language will be in text output, such as English, French, Spanish, or other. An output language selector is manually switched on with a remote to select the output language and to send the signal to the closed caption/local text display encode selector for the television signal. The text output language selector includes a switch on the housing for selecting the desired language manually and also may include a similar switch that can be activated by remote control for selecting the desired output language.
The language selector may also include an output that goes directly to a liquid crystal display on-board text display that could be read directly from an LCD display mounted on the main processor housing as an option.
The closed caption/local text display code selector that has a manually activated switch on the main processor housing could select either automatic or select local text display only which would by-pass closed caption. Selection of automatic would allow the system to select either closed caption or the local text display, depending on which is a better signal. The encode selector can also be done by remote control in either an automatic mode or local text display only.
The output of the closed caption/local text display and code selector goes directly to the input of an audio/video/closed caption text encoder that modulates and adds the video text output signal to the original incoming television video signal (which contains both the video and the audio signals) and directs the complete signal to an RF modulator. After modulation to channel 3 or channel 4 frequency, the signal goes to TV channel 3 or channel 4 output. The TV channel 3 or channel 4 output is connected directly to the television set itself is set to receive channel 3 or channel 4.
The program displayed by the television set would include the transmitted video TV program, including all sound, music and human speech transmitted in the television signal and would include a local text display of the human speech audio in a text format displayed on screen in real time. A person watching the television program would see the live streaming text displayed along the bottom of the screen in conjunction with sound and video. If a closed caption signal was transmitted in the video signal and the television receiver can display closed caption, the person may see closed caption. However, if closed caption is not being transmitted, is of unacceptable quality, or if the TV is not enabled for closed caption, the person will see local text display of all the human speech being transmitted and displayed in the television show.
The main processor unit may also include an RF (FM) output which would be thus the human speech input converted to text displayed on a remote on-board text display device. This could also be done for a wire-to-wire serial output in text format to a display box and a wireless infrared output in text to on-board text display, such as a CRT or LCD.
In a conventional incoming video television signal, closed caption data may be provided in the video signal line 21. The present invention in the main processor unit can detect the presence of closed caption data in line 21 in the video signal, which then acknowledges that there is closed caption data being transmitted in the input television signal. The present invention is capable of recognizing this data presence and selecting between continued transmittal of the closed caption data through to the television set so that the closed caption data will be displayed in lieu of the local text display created by the present invention. If the video signal does not contain line 21 data, then no closed caption data is present and the present invention will provide specifically local text display in accordance with the invention. Also, local text display will be provided in accordance with the present invention by automatic or manual selection, especially for television sets which do not have the capability for recognizing and processing closed caption video data.
With the use of the present invention, using a convenient, relatively small sized main processor unit that has a small housing that can be mounted on or adjacent to a conventional television set with very minimal input and output wiring, the present invention can be used with a conventional television set, with or without a VCR connection, that allows a person who is hearing impaired or who is completely deaf to observe a television program, whether it be live or pre-taped on a video cassette recorder, to display during the transmission of the program, a stream of text that represents the human speech portions of the audio signals being generated by the presentation and display of the television program.
The present invention also provides for direct audio inputs from FM radio and other audio inputs from a microphone or impedance source or speaker.
The present invention includes its own self-contained liquid crystal display to provide visual textual display of the audio signals. Again, this allows a hearing impaired person or deaf person to participate in an environment such as listening to a radio or listening to someone with a microphone while, in fact, looking at the text display on a screen.
In an alternate embodiment, the present invention could include its own microphone, connected to an input that allows the hearing impaired person to be present in a room where people are speaking and to observe the audio portion of the human speech in a text display on the LCD screen.
It is an object of this invention to provide a device that can utilize an input television signal with or without closed caption data and that can convert the audio portion to a local text display on the screen in real time during presentation of the TV program so that the person who is hearing impaired can read the textual conversion of the human speech being portrayed.
It is another object of this invention to provide an improved, low cost, portable device that can be used with a conventional television set to provide a textual display and be used in conjunction with television programming and TV sets that are capable of closed caption.